Medical X-ray units of the type typically used in hospitals and emergency rooms generally employ a radiographic stand mounted on the wall or mounted on a vertical support post in the center of the room in which the X-ray unit is used. Such stands are used for many applications, such as to obtain X-rays of the chest, abdomen, pelvis, skull and spinal column of patients. Various accessories are used to adapt the X-ray unit to these various applications, such as the provision of head supports for skull X-rays.
When a conventional wall mounted X-ray unit is utilized for obtaining radiographs of the chest, it is necessary for the patient to hold his or her arms up out of the way of the chest region of the body. This is true whether the patient is standing or whether the patient is sitting on an examination table adjacent the X-ray unit. In many cases, patients who are having such radiographs made of their chest region are in a weakened or feeble condition. This is particularly true of older patients who find it very difficult to hold their arms up for the length of time required to make the necessary radiographs.
In an effort to assist patients, particularly elderly patients, during the taking of chest radiographs, it has been the practice in the past for some X-ray technicians to hold onto the arms of the patient while the radiograph is being made. Although the patient receives the required steadying support from this action, the X-ray technician risks himself to unnecessary and dangerous exposure to radiation. In many hospitals and X-ray laboratories, the support for a patient to use to hold his or her arms up out of the way during a chest X-ray is provided by any available apparatus in the room having a sufficient height. Often this apparatus is an I-V stand used for holding the various solutions in intravenous feeding. Such stands are not designed as arm supports and consequently are very unstable when they are used in this manner. It is easy to tip over such a stand when it is used as a patient arm support, thereby risking the danger of a fall to a patient who is already in a feeble physical condition.
At least one manufacturer of X-ray equipment has added a patient holder to the wall stand of the X-ray unit. The holder extends out of the top of the wall stand and laterally over the area where the patient stands in front of the radiographic plate. A swivel T-bar is attached to the end of the patient holder arm, so that the patient can grasp the bar over his or her head and hold onto it during the time a chest X-ray is being taken. Such a bar, however, necessarily has a very limited vertical height adjustment and has not been found to provide the assurance of stability to a patient using the bar.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a patient support for use in conjunction with X-ray units which is simple in construction, reliable, and which provides a stable support for the arms of a patient during the operation of the X-ray unit. It also is desirable for such a support to be capable of different heights and to permit use of the support for patients standing in front of the X-ray machine as well as for patients who are seated on a bed or examination table.